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What am I eating?
There are some 'accidental' fruits in my garden, which I'd like to identify.
I have eaten (and stewed) quite a few without ill-effect and they are ripe now. They are yellow, about 1.8 cm in diameter and have a central stone, measuring around 1cm. The flesh is sweet and tastes just like a plum, the skin is rather sour. The branches of the tree which bears them have long (2-3cm) sharp spikes/thorns. They're obviously a prunus, I think. Are they mirabelles? Googling so far has not shown me the rest of the plant. The spikes are vicious... -- Helen D. Vecht: Edgware. |
What am I eating?
In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes There are some 'accidental' fruits in my garden, which I'd like to identify. I have eaten (and stewed) quite a few without ill-effect and they are ripe now. They are yellow, about 1.8 cm in diameter and have a central stone, measuring around 1cm. The flesh is sweet and tastes just like a plum, the skin is rather sour. The branches of the tree which bears them have long (2-3cm) sharp spikes/thorns. They're obviously a prunus, I think. Are they mirabelles? Googling so far has not shown me the rest of the plant. The spikes are vicious... Prunus cerasifera, cherry plum, or mirabelle if French. They're described with red or yellow fruit and spikes - this website sells them for hedging: http://buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/ac...uct_10262.html IME the fruit can be bright red, yellow or deep purple all in a short length of old field hedge. Their armament varies too; I suspect a lot of the wild plants are hybrids and I think you're unlucky to have such serious spines on yours. They make first-rate pies but for jam you really want bullaces. -- Sue ]:(:) |
What am I eating?
"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote There are some 'accidental' fruits in my garden, which I'd like to identify. I have eaten (and stewed) quite a few without ill-effect and they are ripe now. They are yellow, about 1.8 cm in diameter and have a central stone, measuring around 1cm. The flesh is sweet and tastes just like a plum, the skin is rather sour. The branches of the tree which bears them have long (2-3cm) sharp spikes/thorns. They're obviously a prunus, I think. Are they mirabelles? Googling so far has not shown me the rest of the plant. The spikes are vicious... Sounds like bullace. http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/bullace.htm -- Sue |
What am I eating?
MadCow typed
They make first-rate pies but for jam you really want bullaces. Thanks :-) I think I'll just throw them in the jam pan with my Victoria Plum glut. My Vic plum fruited very heavily last year. This year, it's *much* heavier, with the branches breaking under the weight. The fruit are still developing on the broken branch, which we'll attend to after the harvest. -- Helen D. Vecht: Edgware. |
What am I eating?
"Sue" wrote in message reenews.net... "Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote There are some 'accidental' fruits in my garden, which I'd like to identify. I have eaten (and stewed) quite a few without ill-effect and they are ripe now. They are yellow, about 1.8 cm in diameter and have a central stone, measuring around 1cm. The flesh is sweet and tastes just like a plum, the skin is rather sour. The branches of the tree which bears them have long (2-3cm) sharp spikes/thorns. They're obviously a prunus, I think. Are they mirabelles? Googling so far has not shown me the rest of the plant. The spikes are vicious... Sounds like bullace. http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/bullace.htm -- Sue Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns -- Charlie, gardening in Cornwall. http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs) |
What am I eating?
The message
from "Charlie Pridham" contains these words: "Sue" wrote in message reenews.net... big snip Sounds like bullace. Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns Well my childhood memories of what we called Bullace was like the picture on the above, ie greenish yellow flushed with pink and better eaten after a slight frost. Can't remember about the thorns but think there were a few. However when I 'googled' for Bullace, after reading another thread in urg, the pictures showed them as purple! Where are you Rusty??? ... who ages ago told me there were quite a few bullace trees in Norfolk. BTW Helen whatever they are they sound rather nice - lucky you. Jennifer in Bristol - totally confused! |
What am I eating?
Jennifer Sparkes typed
Well my childhood memories of what we called Bullace was like the picture on the above, ie greenish yellow flushed with pink and better eaten after a slight frost. Can't remember about the thorns but think there were a few. However when I 'googled' for Bullace, after reading another thread in urg, the pictures showed them as purple! Where are you Rusty??? ... who ages ago told me there were quite a few bullace trees in Norfolk. BTW Helen whatever they are they sound rather nice - lucky you. Jennifer in Bristol - totally confused! Rusty is still too short of reddies to get back with us. I'll send him a text message. -- Helen D. Vecht: Edgware. |
What am I eating?
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What am I eating?
In message , Jennifer Sparkes
writes Sounds like bullace. Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns Well my childhood memories of what we called Bullace was like the picture on the above, ie greenish yellow flushed with pink and better eaten after a slight frost. Can't remember about the thorns but think there were a few. In Sussex the local bullaces were yellow-flushed-red, and we bought a green-flushed-red one from a nursery (its fruit weren't as tasty but it cropped more reliably). Ours were about as spiny as a damson, ie they'd scratch you but not stab you. I went out today and picked up some feral plums off a roadside: Bush 1 had sloe-like small rugose leaves (but only weak spines) and yellow fruit the size of sloes. They were still hard. Bush 2 had larger flatter leaves and beautiful deep-yellow fruit with a slight blush, the size of cherry plums. They'd almost all fallen. Bush 3 had bright red fruit with a slight bloom, well into falling. Bush 4 had plain light yellow fruit the size and shape of damsons, which had fallen so thickly the ground was yellow with them. Bush 5 had deep yellow fruit with a marked blush but rather angular with a slight keel at the bottom end... I ran out of time without finding two the same. I'll stew my samples and see if they taste any different. I'm tempted to go back at sloe time and try some of the yellow sloes in brandy, just as a curiosity. -- Sue ]:(:) |
What am I eating?
"MadCow" wrote in message ... In message , Jennifer Sparkes writes Sounds like bullace. Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns Well my childhood memories of what we called Bullace was like the picture on the above, ie greenish yellow flushed with pink and better eaten after a slight frost. Can't remember about the thorns but think there were a few. In Sussex the local bullaces were yellow-flushed-red, and we bought a green-flushed-red one from a nursery (its fruit weren't as tasty but it cropped more reliably). Ours were about as spiny as a damson, ie they'd scratch you but not stab you. I went out today and picked up some feral plums off a roadside: Bush 1 had sloe-like small rugose leaves (but only weak spines) and yellow fruit the size of sloes. They were still hard. Bush 2 had larger flatter leaves and beautiful deep-yellow fruit with a slight blush, the size of cherry plums. They'd almost all fallen. Bush 3 had bright red fruit with a slight bloom, well into falling. Bush 4 had plain light yellow fruit the size and shape of damsons, which had fallen so thickly the ground was yellow with them. Bush 5 had deep yellow fruit with a marked blush but rather angular with a slight keel at the bottom end... I ran out of time without finding two the same. I'll stew my samples and see if they taste any different. I'm tempted to go back at sloe time and try some of the yellow sloes in brandy, just as a curiosity. -- Sue ]:(:) Have been to the site Jennifer posted and was amazed at the huge range of Bullace (I assumed they were a wild plant) looks like they have been cultivated in hedgerows for ever. So as she said in an email "Everyone is right" !! -- Charlie, gardening in Cornwall. http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs) |
What am I eating?
"Jennifer Sparkes" wrote from "Charlie Pridham" : "Sue" wrote big snip Sounds like bullace. Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns Well my childhood memories of what we called Bullace was like the picture on the above, ie greenish yellow flushed with pink and better eaten after a slight frost. Can't remember about the thorns but think there were a few. However when I 'googled' for Bullace, after reading another thread in urg, the pictures showed them as purple! Where are you Rusty??? ... who ages ago told me there were quite a few bullace trees in Norfolk. I am in Norfolk, and yes there are, or were. The wild plum type shrubs or trees in hedgerows that I've always known as bullace are a bit thorny, have yellowish fruit, and look like the ones in the link I included. http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/bullace.htm Purple ones I'd call damsons. Perhaps it's another regional variation on common naming. -- Sue |
What am I eating?
"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message ... Sounds like bullace. http://www.brickfieldspark.org/data/bullace.htm -- Sue Bullace are purple and the trees have no thorns I would agree that they're purple but there are a few thorns on the older wood on mine - long spines. But it's such a promiscuous plant that I suspect any colour would be possible - and any spine. Mary |
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